Dear Reader,
CoQ10 protects every organ in your body, boosts brainpower, reverses the effects of aging and even extends your life. In fact, it’s so powerful that for over two decades the Japanese have used it as a prescription drug for heart disease.
CoQ10 is a naturally occurring compound that that helps to speed up chemical reactions in your body. But in spite of its proven track record, most doctors never give it a second thought.
They should. Every single cell in your body needs CoQ10 to convert fuel into energy. Since it’s such a potent metabolic engine, organs that burn a lot of energy – the heart, brain, lungs and liver – need a lot of CoQ10 for optimal functioning.
But there’s a hitch: As you age, your body loses the ability to make enough CoQ10 on its own. If you don’t get enough of it from other sources, your body’s stockpile of CoQ10 dwindles. From age 30 onwards, the telltale signs of aging start to appear – a weaker heart, duller mind and flagging energy.
So you need to ramp up your CoQ10 levels from external sources. The problem is it’s pretty tough to get the right amount of CoQ10 through diet alone. Organ meat is the richest source. But how often do you eat kidney, liver or brains? Very few of my patients do. So I put them on CoQ10 supplements.
If you can’t make it to my clinic, they’re easy to find on line or in health food stores. If you’re over 30, I recommend at least 30-mg of CoQ10 per day. Folks over 60 should be taking twice that amount.
It comes in the form of tablets, chewable wafers or gel caps. I don’t recommend the powdered form because they’re not as well absorbed. Go for gel caps or chewables. And be sure to take it with some kind of fat, because CoQ10 is fat-soluble. Fish, dairy, eggs, meat – even a teaspoon of olive or fish oil will do the trick.
As many of my patients will tell you, a whole host of health problems simply disappear once CoQ10 levels are restored. In fact, recent research has opened up a whole new world of CoQ10 benefits. These include:
Diabetes: An Australian study found that patients with type II diabetes who took 200 mg of CoQ10 a day over 12 weeks showed improved blood sugar control.1
Vision and Eye Health: A recent double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial demonstrated that adults with early macular degeneration who supplemented with a combination of CoQ10, acetyl-L-carnitine and omega-3 fatty acids for one year improved their visual function.2
Allergies: Researchers in Texas found low CoQ10 levels in people suffering from rhinitis and other allergies; they believe that further studies will show that CoQ10 can manage a wide array of allergy syndromes.3
Gum Disease: Topical CoQ10 application improves the gum health of people suffering from periodontal disease, and also speeds tissue healing following periodontal surgery.4
Migraines: 32 patients with a history of episodic migraine were treated with 150 mg of CoQ10 daily. More than 60 percent of the patients experienced a 50 percent or greater reduction in the number of days they suffered headaches. After three months of supplementation, their migraine frequency fell by an average of 55 percent.5
So you can see why CoQ10 ought to be a household name by now. By the way, if you’re over 50, there’s something else you should know about CoQ10.
All currently available CoQ10 supplements use the active ingredient ubiquinone. But in order to unleash the power of CoQ10, your body first has to convert it into another substance called ubiquinol.
Ubiquinol is the form of CoQ10 that works miracles. Here’s the problem: After age 45, your body’s ability to convert ubiquinone into ubiquinol begins to decline. As a result, conventional supplements won’t deliver the full benefit of CoQ10. And in many cases – especially if you’re 50 or older – traditional CoQ10 simply can’t give you the same disease protection it gives to younger people.
The good news is that I’ve been working with scientists in Japan to bring you new form of CoQ10 you won’t find anywhere else. It’s a super-charged version called CoQ10-H2. Instead of ubiquinone, it delivers pure ubiquinol to the bloodstream.
By sidestepping the conversion process from ubiquinone to ubiquinol, this new formula will enable your body to absorb 8 times as much CoQ10 and keep your blood levels high over an extended period. And high blood levels are what you need to stave off the effects of aging – and age-related diseases.
Be on the lookout for my new high-powered CoQ10 formula in the coming months…
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1 Hodgson et al, “Coenzyme Q10 improves blood pressure and glycaemic control in a controlled trial in subjects with type 2 diabetes,” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002, 56(11):1137-42.
2 Blasi et al, “Does coenzyme Q10 play a role in opposing oxidative stress in patients with age-related macular degeneration?” Opthalmologica, 2001, 215(1):51-4.
3 Ye CQ et al, “A modified determination of coenzyme Q10 in human blood and CoQ10 blood levels in diverse patients with allergies,” Biofactors, 1988, 1(4):303-6.
4 Horowitz S., “Coenzyme Q10: one antioxidant, many promising implications,” Alternative Complementary Therapies, 2003, 111-6.
5 Rozen et al, “Open label trial of coenzyme Q10 as a migraine preventive,” Cephalgia. 2002, 22(2):137-41.